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Blake Griffin is ready to dive in

"For me it's about being the best," Griffin said when I asked about his goals. "I don't know if it's a fear of not being the best. I just have this feeling that I don't want to be just one of the guys who just gets by or is just a good player.

"I don't want to be just a good player; I want to be one of the best and I know for a fact that you have to do all this to be one of the best."

"He's special," Olshey said. "Things aren't contrived with him. And when you're building an organization, that's what you look for. It's more than he's a plus-athlete and he works his tail off. It's the kind of person he is.

"When you have an opportunity to get a character guy like Blake, you build around that and you create a culture that emphasizes people like him."

"Honestly, there's not a lot of greater feelings than being a part of something when it's at a low point and then helping to take it to a high point," Griffin said. "That was what my college coach [Jeff Capel] always talked about. Being a part of something bigger than yourself and being a part of changing a culture."

If he'd had to, Griffin probably could have played at some point last season. But no one, in the end even Griffin, thought he should.

"It took a lot of restraint on our part to say to him: 'You being a part of this organization is bigger than one year. This is Year 1 of a 15-year career,'" Olshey said. "But we said it, and it was for the good of the organization as much as for his good."

Ramona Shelburne, ESPN Los Angeles